The Jukskei River has carried rubbish through Alexandra for too long. A group of residents decided they were done waiting for somebody else to fix it. They have since removed more than 1000 TONNES of waste from the river!
Johannesburg, South Africa (16 September 2026) – Mandy Wiener’s latest episode of The Hope Dealers stops off in Alexandra, where a community-led environmental movement has grown to include more than 1500 volunteers who are all working towards a cleaner, safer Alex.
The Jukskei River first sees the light near Johannesburg’s CBD before flowing north, eventually joining the Crocodile River and feeding into Hartbeespoort Dam. Along the way, it runs straight through Alexandra, home to nearly half a million people.
The stretch of river that runs through Alex has become heavily polluted over the years. Service delivery and waste collection can be unreliable, which leads to illegal dumping. Rubbish ends up in the river, the water becomes a health hazard, and communities living alongside it must deal with the consequences.
In 2021, a group of concerned residents decided that they had had enough and formed the Alexandra Water Warriors. The initiative wasn’t brought into the township by an outside organisation. It was started by people who live there and wanted to do something about the state of their own environment.
And they have done a LOT.
The Alex Water Warriors have since removed more than 1000 tonnes of rubbish from the Jukskei River. Teams can fill around 600 bags with waste every day, and the movement has grown to 11 groups working along the river from London Road all the way through to Marlboro.
River clean-ups are only part of the work the warriors do. Waste collected during clean-ups is recycled, and greening projects are helping to improve the areas around the river for the community and the animals and other species that live alongside it.
Alex even has its own river patrollers now. They keep an eye out for illegal dumping and speak to residents who are caught disposing of rubbish in the river, offering warnings and education to help prevent the same thing from happening again.
There have been many positive knock-on effects from the work done through this initiative. The river is maintained, the community now actively works toward recycling waste, and hundreds of people who initially got involved as volunteers earn stipends through expanded public works programmes with Joburg City Parks.
Related Stories
Dr Dolly Nyasulu Completes PhD After Decades in Maternal and Newborn Health
175 Bags Later: Hennops River Wetlands Get a Much-Needed CleanupCleaning the Jukskei also ties into another dream co-founder Paul Maluleke has for Alexandra.
Before the Water Warriors, Paul founded the Greater Alexandra Tourism & Heritage Association, an initiative working to bring tourism into the township, create opportunities for local people and show visitors more of Alex’s history and heritage.
A cleaner Jukskei falls into that vision for eco-tourism. Hopefully, the river and the spaces around it can become places that people want to visit and enjoy.
Paul wants to see Alexandra spoken about differently. The township often makes headlines for crime, service delivery failures and other challenges. The people actively working to improve their community don’t always get the same attention.
“To clean up our name, we must start cleaning up our environment.”
The Hope Dealers continues to shine a light on Joburgers who are tired of waiting for change and have decided to get involved themselves.
You can follow the journey via Mandy’s social media. Check out her Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and X for more information.
The series will also be available on Primedia+, EWN and across Primedia and Mandy’s social media platforms. The audio interviews will also be released as podcasts and broadcast on The Midday Report.
by 
